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Fuel tax increases – the unity ticket of Liberals, Labor and the Greens against workers and the poor

Bill Shorten has announced the Labor Party will support legislation to allow the Abbott government to index fuel tax increases twice yearly to inflation. This is already in place under a regulation that will lapse in October, after the government failed to get legislation passed last year to index the increases to inflation when Labor and the Greens opposed it.

Shorten outlined the cogent reasons why Labor opposed it last year. He said then (as reported in the Australian):

… today [Abbott] ambushes Australian motorists, ambushes the parliament of Australia and through the back door has launched a sneak attack on the wallets and cost of living of every Australian,” Mr Shorten told reporters in Canberra.

This is outrageous. He doesn’t have the courage to take his new taxes to an election. He is desperate to prop up his unfair budget.

What has changed? Well, the Government was in discussions with the Greens under new leader Richard Di Natalie to get the fuel indexation Bill through the Parliament and it looked like they would fold if the Government agreed to spend the extra money on public transport. The deal with Labor means the money – expected to be $23 billion over the decade – will be spent instead on roads.

There are two impacts to the increase. It will add, according to the government, about 40C a week to your petrol bill. The Australian Automobile Association said it was more likely to be $2 to $3 a week.

The second problem is that increased transport costs will increase the cost of necessities across the board.

This will impact on poor people and workers more than it will on the rich.

The agreement shows the priorities of the Liberals, Labor and the Greens. It isn’t taxing the rich. The Abbott government has been joined by Labor and the Greens in a rotten unity ticket on fuel tax indexation to attack workers and the poor.

This should not surprise us because what unites them – capitalism – is greater than any of their differences over aspects of how to manage it. Like all parties of capital they make workers and the poor pay for the crises of capitalism and the fuel tax is just one small example, a portent of things to come.